Yahoo

R.I.P Geocities – We’ll always remember the animated gifs

Saturday, April 25th, 2009 | Business, News, Yahoo | No Comments

geocities1

It has just been reported that Yahoo has finally shut down age-old free web hosting service Geocities for good this time. Acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for a whopping $2.87 billion, it was a service that many used to get their first website. Ohh how I will always remember those animated flame border .gifs and the flashing text featured all over the page…and who could forget the scrolling news going across the top of the screen…it was the coolest.

You were a legend, you will be missed.

(cue moment of silence)

Tags: , , , , ,

Flash Files (.swf) Now Searchable!

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 | Adobe, Business, News, SEM, Yahoo, google | No Comments

flash files now searchable on google

Adobe has just announced that they have teamed up with Google and Yahoo! to help improve the way in which search engines catalogue .swf files.

According to their press release:

Adobe is working with Google and Yahoo! to enable one of the largest fundamental improvements in web search results by making the Flash file format (SWF) a first-class citizen in searchable web content. This will increase the accuracy of web search results by enabling top search engines to understand what’s inside of RIAs and other rich web content created with Adobe Flash technology and add that relevance back to the HTML page.

Improved search of SWF content will provide immediate benefits to companies leveraging Adobe Flash software. Without additional changes to content, developers can continue to provide experiences that are possible only with Adobe Flash technology without the trade-off of a loss in search indexing. It will also positively affect the Search Engine Optimization community, which will develop best practices for building content and RIAs utilizing Adobe Flash technologies, and enhance the ability to find and monetize SWF content.

This is BIG news to put it lightly. Flash files have always been partially searchable via Google, but now there is no doubt as to what content is picked up by the spider. This was a great move on Adobe’s part, most likely fueled by growing competition in the form of Microsoft’s Silverlight. See, working in an open-market does have it’s benefits!

Tags: , , , , ,

Other Places You Can Find Me: